1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning device for use in an image forming apparatus such as electrophotographic copier, a microfilm apparatus, a printer or a recording apparatus, and more particularly to such cleaning device for removing the substance deposited on a surface to be cleaned by means of a cleaning member maintained in contact with said surface and recovering thus removed developer into a container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the following description an electrophotographic copier will be adopted as an example.
In the field of image forming apparatus in which a developed image is formed on an image bearing member such as an electrophotographic photosensitive member and is subsequently utilized for transfer, there are already proposed various cleaning devices for removing the developer remaining on said image bearing member.
The cleaning member for such cleaning device is for example of an elastic blade or a brush, and the developer removed with such cleaning member is generally recovered in a recovery container through an aperture formed adjacent to said cleaning member.
The developer recovered in said recovery container is either stored therein until the maintenance service or supplied for example by a screw conveyor to a container for used developer provided outside the cleaning device or to a developing device for the purpose of re-use. In either case a considerable amount of removed developer remains in the recovery container after the cleaning operation. Consequently the developer may be scattered through the aperture of the cleaning device in case it is detached from the image forming apparatus and is held in inclined position at the maintenance service. More specifically, a conventional cleaning device shown in lateral cross-sectional view in FIG. 1 is generally mounted in horizontal position as shown in a front view in FIG. 2A. The cleaning device 1 is provided, at the front face of a housing 2 thereof, with an aperture 0, above which is provided a cleaning member composed of an elastic blade 3. Also below said aperture 0 there is provided a guide member 4 for guiding the removed developer into the housing. Consequently the front aperture 0 of the housing is formed as a slit defined at the upper and lower end thereof respectively by the lower rim of the cleaning member 3 and the upper rim of the guide member 4.
A photosensitive drum 6 is rotated in a direction indicated by arrow by means of unrepresented driving means, and is provided, along the periphery thereof, with not-shown latent image forming means and image developing means to form a developed image on said photosensitive drum. The developed image thus formed is transferred, by a transfer corona charger 7, onto a transfer sheet 8, and the developer 9 remaining on the photosensitive drum 6 is removed by the cleaning member 3 of the cleaning device 1 and is guided, through said aperture 0, into the housing. In the horizontal state shown in FIG. 2A, there is no danger that the developer 5 contained in the housing will spill out to the outside. However, in case the cleaning device is detached from the image forming apparatus for example in the maintenance service, it may eventually be maintained in an inclined position as shown in FIG. 2B, and, in such case the recovered developer flows in the space of the housing and may be spilt therefrom. Even without such spilling, the developer may remain in the unbalanced state when the cleaning device is returned to the horizontal position, and there may result unsatisfactory recovery of the removed developer through the aperture at a side where the developer is accumulated.